Wilshere is on loan at Bournemouth for the season and concedes he may have to leave his boyhood club if he can’t play regularly.
Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere admits he could leave the club on a permanent basis if he isn’t guaranteed more regular football reports Sky Sports.
The England midfielder is on loan at fellow Premier League side Bournemouth and his strong performances on the South Coast have earned a recall to the national side, with games against Spain and Scotland in the next two weeks.
Rising through Arsenal’s academy as a nine-year-old, Wilshere was sent out on loan by his boyhood club after being told on deadline day he’d struggle to play under Arsene Wenger.
His injuries continue to prevent him from living up to expectations at the Emirates making just 27 appearances in the last three seasons.
Tottenham’s Mousa Dembele in action with Bournemouth’s Jack Wilshere
The 24-year-old wants to return to North London at the end of his loan, but hasn’t ruled out leaving the club that he loves on a permanent basis if he struggles to win his place back in the team.
He told Sky Sports: “It’s difficult for me to say because I love Arsenal and I’ve had great times there, and they’ve been great for me, and I can still see myself playing there.
“But who knows what the future holds? I’ve got a year left when I go back there. At the moment I’m just trying to have a season where it puts me in a good position at the end of the year, I’m improved as a player and Arsenal want me back, and we’ll see where we go from there.
“I always thought to myself ‘of course I love Arsenal’ but if there comes a time where I have to leave, then I have to leave, you know?
Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere looks dejected
“If I go back and I’m not going to be playing, then, of course, I have to think about things. But at the moment I’m concentrating on Bournemouth.
“I want to put myself in a position where I go back next year and I’m a better player, and I’m fitter, and I can prove to people I can play week in, week out, and I’m ready for the challenge.”
In nine seasons, Wilshere has made over 150 appearances for Arsenal, but that figure should be much greater if injuries hadn’t taken their toll on the midfielder.
Once touted as England’s biggest breakthrough star, the former Bolton Wanderers loanee has lost his starting place under Wenger and is at a crossroads in his career; at 24, he’s young enough to put his injury woes behind him but that could be at the expense of leaving the club he’s called home for over 15 years.
Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere with manager Arsene Wenger as he is substituted
Wilshere admits he was unsatisfied at the role he would have had if he stayed at the Emirates, but was thankful for Wenger allowing him to leave for Bournemouth, where he’s started to recapture the sort of form that tipped him for greatness at The Gunners.
“I spoke to Arsene before I went to Bournemouth and he said I would play, but I wanted more than that,” he said. “I wanted to be an important player for the team and play week in, week out – from the start – and I just got the feeling I needed a change if I was to experience that.
“I spoke to him on the phone, I didn’t speak to him in person, so it was hard to tell (if he wanted to keep me). I said to him I wanted to play and he’d already had a feeling that I wanted to go on loan because my agent had spoken to Dick Law (contract negotiator), and I think he’d had the chance to think about it, and when I spoke to him he said ‘it’s fine’.
“I knew that they’d got a strong squad this year, they were in a good position when I left, so of course I want them to win the league.
“For the manager, especially, I’d be delighted.
Bournemouth’s Jack Wilshere
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